City of Orlando Testing Amazon’s Facial Recognition Tech

Amazon’s facial recognition software, called Rekognition, analyzes footage from video surveillance and works to identify the people in it by scanning their faces and searching databases.

By Jessica Davis

Oct 22, 2018

The city of Orlando will be moving forward with a second test of Amazon’s facial recognition technology, it announced Thursday. The city’s previous testing period last six months and ended in June.

Amazon’s facial recognition software, called Rekognition, analyzes footage from video surveillance and works to identify the people in it by scanning their faces and searching databases. Rekognition can ID as many as 100 people in a single image, even if their faces aren’t clearly visible, according to Amazon.

Orlando said the second pilot test of the Rekognition software began Thursday and would last nine months, during which time the technology will not be used in an investigative capacity.

According to the city, no images of the public will be used in this testing period; only those of Orlando Police officers who volunteered to participate. The test will include eight video streams from cameras owned by the city: four at Orlando Police Department headquarters, three cameras in undisclosed public Orlando spaces and one more unnamed city facility.

After the second testing period concludes, the police department will decide whether to continue to use Rekognition. If they choose to continue, the city will then explore purchasing Rekognition for use and develop a policy for its use.